Atlantis of the Sands: The Search for the Lost City of Iram

this episode is brought to you by curiositystream a subscription streaming service that offers thousands of documentaries and non-fiction titles starting at just 299 a month more on them in a bit on november 1907 the new orleans police department arrested 47 members of a violent and mysterious organization responsible for dozens of murders it appeared to be a cult dedicated to a previously unknown deity upon interrogation a cuban member of the sect revealed that the center of their cult lay amid the pathless deserts of arabia where iran the city of pillars dreams hidden and untouched keem listeners may know that the quote comes from a piece of fiction the call of cthulhu by h.p lovecraft the city of aram however may not be fiction after all it never headquartered a deadly cult mind you but the mysteries surrounding it have puzzled generations of scholars and explorers since biblical times religious texts ancient geographies poetry literature and oral tradition have all mentioned a rich beautiful and powerful city towering amongst the sands of the arabian desert some stories describe it as thriving and powerful while others focus on its destruction on how the mighty city had disappeared almost overnight swallowed by the pitiless dunes some stories call the city iram of the pillars others have christened ubar or wabar t.e lawrence better known as lawrence of arabia had dreamt about finding the legendary lost city a dream that remained unfulfilled due to his untimely death it was he who gave it the title atlantis of the sands [Music] lawrence of arabia had estimated that iran was located in the area called aramal by local bedouins this is better known as rabal harley or the empty quarter the empty quarter occupies parts of southern saudi arabia yemen amman and the united arab emirates covering a surface of 660 000 square kilometers this desert is the largest area of continuous sand in the world and one of the driest regions on the planet the average annual rainfall is only 35 millimeter that's 65 millimeters less than the sahara desert and only 20 millimeters more than the atacama desert the driest place on earth unsurprisingly the rubber kali is almost completely uninhabited and largely unexplored could an environment so inadequate to human life sustain an ancient thriving city though well yes geological evidence suggests that the vast sand desert was once a rather fertile land during the late pleistocene era that's from 2.6 million to 11 700 years ago water buffaloes and hippos happily roamed the area later during the arabian neolithic period from 8000 to 4400 bc the empty quarter experienced another moist moment referred to as the holocene climactic optimum the climate in southern arabia became progressively drier in the following millennia during the late iron age from 1 550 bc the desertification process was man-made it appears that the expansion of agriculture and animal farming in the period removed the cover of vegetation from the top of these vast sandy hills the destabilization of these dunes led to the displacement of sand aided by strong winds which eventually covered most of the area so is that it then by the 6th century bce the quarter had indeed been emptied well not really not entirely archaeological evidence proves that the rabb akhali retained a large number of oases providing water and food around which many settlements were clustered in the era and if we look at ancient historical accounts we may find these settlements were rather rich and sophisticated let's go back to the 7th century bce when the assyrians recorded their dealings with arabia located in ancient mesopotamia the assyrian empire knew arabia as a wealthy land made rich by the trades of perfumes and spices it was rich enough to justify the campaigns of kings essa haddan and asabanapal who subjugated the region between 680 and 627 bce a more direct reference to the people of the empty quarter comes from greek geographer and historian herodotus in approximately 430 bce herodotus described arabia in general and its southern lands in particular as a global powerhouse in the production and trade of spices arabia is the only country which produces frankincense myrrh casey cinnamon and laudanum the whole country is scented wisdom and exhales an odor marvelously sweet herodotus does reference a desert but also that it is crossed by a river the quarries which flows into the s3 and sea or the southern half of the red sea moreover arabian kings had devised an ingenious irrigation system using pipes made of oxen skins more than four centuries later another greek author the geographer strabo confirmed that southern arabia was still rich and fertile he described the country of the sabians modern-day yemen as the most fertile of all providing the spices already noted by herodotus as well as balsamin sweet-smelling palms and calamus the sabians were not mere producers but also traders carrying their goods as far as syria or mesopotamia by trading these spices the sabians had become the richest of all the arabian tribes strabo reports that the doors walls and roofs of their houses were variegated with inlaid ivory gold silver and precious stones the sabians were also mentioned in the bible by the way more precisely the book of kings tells the story of the queen of sabah or queen of sheba who visited king solomon with a caravan of spices and gold as a gift the bible also makes several references to the land of ophir or these biblical passages hint at a prosperous land from which caravans or shipments of gold precious stones and sandalwood reach palestine a fear is believed by biblical scholars to be located in southern arabia all these sources lead us to believe that the empty quarter may have not been that empty and barren after all on the contrary the area encompassing modern-day yemen and oman may have been one of the richest in the region but so far we've talked about quite a wide expanse of land let's not forget we're looking for a city where can we find the first reference to the atlantis of the sands the first mention of the city which may have been the fabled iran comes from a map of 150 ce the map was compiled by cladius ptolemy a second century mathematician astronomer and geographer from alexandria in egypt ptolemy indicated a place he called amanum emporium or the omani marketplace located in the middle of what is today the rob alcali based on its location its name suggesting trade and previous descriptions of southern arabia scholars have speculated that the emporium was a commercial outpost at the intersection of bustling trade routes more likely this was a gateway and resting stop for traders of frankincense this was one of the most sought after goods in the roman empire as it was the source material for the incense constantly burning in pagan shrines most of all it was a commodity that could be procured in great quantity only from the southern regions of the arabian peninsula more precisely from the dhofar mountains also known as the alcara range in modern day oman traders brought their caravans of spices into the omana memporium bought supplies sold some of their own merchandise and perhaps enjoyed some of the city's attractions it is likely that city authorities provided shelter and refreshment for these merchants while encouraging side trade deals among them deals on which they exacted taxes or custom tolls all contributing to the upkeep of the town it sounds a bit prosaic but iran this mythical atlantis of the sands may well have started its existence as a sort of glorified service station sometimes after ptolemy included this emporium in his map mentions of this location disappear from historical records for centuries what could have been its fate and what of the rich and powerful nations that thrived in the not-so-empty quarter the next clue in our treasure hunt comes from pre-islamic arabic poetry it is a single verse by poet ufnan al-tagalibi who lived in the second half of the 6th century ce if i had been of the race of ad and iran brought up among them and of lukwam and jaden the verse is interpreted as al tagliby lamenting the fact that he does not belong to any of these tribes and it confirms that iran indicated the name of a place or of a people originating from a place the next and perhaps best known mention of aram comes from the quran written between 609 and 632. in chapter 89 verses 6-14 the reader is invited to consider how the lord dealt with the tribe or people of ad and their city of iran with lofty pillars the likes of which were not produced in the land different translations may slightly differ but the meaning is consistent the chapter tells of how the tribe of ad the samar people and the pharaohs all transgressed beyond bounds in the lands and heaped their in mischief on mischief therefore did thy lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastisements for thy lord is a guardian on a watchtower the thamids are also quoted in chapter 7 verse 78 they are described as an arrogant nation who rejected the teachings of the monotheistic prophet salia as a result they were annihilated by an earthquake the people of that are frequently mentioned in the quran as a tribe living in southern arabia so an area consistent with the early account of spice rich nations and the oman emporium their fate is mentioned in chapter 11 60. they are described as victims of a curse to last until their day of judgment their guilt was again to reject the word of a monotheistic prophet in this case the prophet hud the story of iran as portrayed in the quran could be interpreted as a parable how the rejection of the one true god may bring about the destruction of entire civilizations this story would then be similar to the one of sodom and gomorrah in the bible but the clues can also be interpreted in a more literal way there may have been a city called iran which could have served as the capital of the ad or at least a very important commercial center in their kingdom the city was adorned with many pillars the highest in the region sign of wealth and power then some time before the writing of the qur'an 609-632 ce iran suffered a catastrophic end now we're going to hear more about potential civilization-ending disasters in just a moment but first let me thank our sponsor curiosity stream curiosity stream is a subscription streaming service that offers thousands of documentaries and non-fiction titles for some of the world's best filmmakers including exclusive originals now if you're enjoying this one why not try out curiosity stream for free and check out all of their fascinating history and geography series we've touched a bit here on the amani lands in this video and they have a two-part series called magical oman or maybe there's a longer series like the silk road or empire that might take your interest curiosity stream is available on many platforms web app broku android xbox one the list really does go on if you've got a screen you could probably watch curiosity stream on it if you sign up between november the 16th and january the 3rd you can get 25 percent off a yearly subscription that's unlimited access for only 14 99 years so use the code geographics when you sign up and get 25 off your yearly subscription it's a great way to support this show and it keeps us making more videos and honestly pretty good match so check it out there's a link below and let's get back to it [Music] iran could have been ended by a sudden cataclysm like an earthquake another work of poetry supports this theory sometime between 622 and 661 ce the poet labid mentions the atlantis of the sands in one of his verses iram and dad tasted his punishment and samud did so later this sounds like the themuds and the people of iran suffered the same fate and the quran states that the thamuds were stricken by an earthquake however it is not clear if labad was writing on the back of other sources or simply retelling the quranic verses the ultimate fate of iran would remain a mystery for centuries but the doomed city continued to attract the attention of travelers and writers appearing in islamic religious scripture poetry and literature the city is mentioned again in ahadith for example the ahadith the sayings and traditions of the prophet muhammad passed down by a chains of narrators one of the ahadiths features a story retold by the learned scholar kaab al-abbar a yemeni jew who had converted to islam in the 7th century alibar's narrative tells of how a man called abdullah lost his camel in the yemeni desert while looking for it he stumbled upon the lost city of iran a marvel built in gold silver and gems ruled by the multi-centenarian king shahad of the ad tribe it is worth noting how this story emphasizes the status of iran as a lost mythical city but it does not mention its destruction in the 11th century this story was adapted into one of the most famous tales of the arabian nights also known as the 1001 knights this is a collection of traditional folk tales of arab indian and persian origins some of whom may have been founded on at least a kernel of truth al-abbar's tale was adapted as the city of many columned iran one of three stories perpetuating the legend of the lost city of the ad in the history of garib and his brother angie the protagonist meets a 340 year old man living in a cave we learned that this old man survived both catastrophes that wiped out the ad and the thamud due to his embracing of monotheism the last story worth mentioning is the sci-fi mullah and badiyat the hero falls in love with a portrait of the beautiful baddiat princess of the jinns these are supernatural creatures of islamic folklore after surviving a series of dangerous adventures sai finally finds badiyat and the two go on to live happily ever after in the garden of iran you may have noticed that some stories refer to iran as a heavenly place not a doomed city there is in fact another set of folk stories mainly post quranic which merged these two aspects together according to this law king shahad of the ad tribe had built a rom as an imitation of heaven on earth it was this hubristic project which brought destruction upon him as people in his city the former inhabitants of iran were then turned into jinns or listeners strange creatures with only one eye one arm and one leg it was these mentions of iran as a lost city of delights which kept its spirit alive and enticed the imagination of travelers and treasure hunters for centuries to come the great moroccan explorer and scholar mohammed ibn batuta trammelled from spain to china over a period of 30 years in the mid-14th century in 1329 he visited the shores of oman and wrote that half a day's journey east of mansura is the abode of the additives by addition he met the people of ad and by their abode he may have intended iran mansura modern-day salahar was in fact located on the omani coast just south of the dhovar mountains the main center for frankincense production then it was perfectly plausible for orama trading hub for spices to be located near mansura interest in finding the lost city of iran flourished again during the early decades of the 20th century especially among british explorers one of them was the arabist and civil servant harry saint john philby during world war one he was appointed political officer of the mesopotamian expeditionary force as such he was dispatched in 1917 on a diplomatic mission to meet prince abbott al of the house of saud philby took the occasion to explore the arabian deserts and so dared to brave the rub alcali he reported spotting the ruins of an ancient building near the aflaj oasis on the northern edge of the empty quarter his bedouin guides told him that the building was called palace of ad was that iran or a bar as the bedouins referred to it philby decided that it could not be as the structure appeared to have been built after the 11th century the guide in fact told him that bar capital city of ad was located far to the south across the rub alcali near the frontier of yemen's hadramaut region but philby did not find any ruins in his subsequent travels in 1930 the empty quarter was explored by british diplomat bertrand sydney thomas who in that period was serving as finance minister to the sultan of muscat and oman actually he was the first european traveler to cross the rob alcali from east to west just like philby thomas could rely on local bedouin guides they told him that a bar laid buried beneath the sands in the northwestern corner of the dohfar area one of the guides described it as a great city that existed of old a city rich in treasure with date gardens and a fort of red silver the bedouins even told him about a path that would lead to a bar located about where the borders of saudi arabia yemen and oman converged thomas was able to locate the track on a map but was never able to follow through on that exploration it would take more than 50 years for another expedition to complete thomas's [Music] work the final and most successful expedition to the lost city was conceived in 1981 by nicholas clapp a los angeles filmmaker and adventurer when filming a documentary about the arrexes of amana type of local gazelle he learned about iran and became obsessed with finding it as a first step he contacted the jet propulsion laboratory or jpl operated by the california institute of technology for nasa and now you're probably wondering well what on earth does that have to do with archaeology doctors alashi blom and krippen wondered the same thing believing clap to be a crank caller but the filmmaker had a brilliant idea using space imagery to locate ancient ruins buried in the desert the jpl in cooperation with other satellite systems did not capture images of any ruin but was able to map a network of caravan trails these were in an area not far from the path mapped by bertram thomas and they all converged on the small settlement of ash shisa shisar indeed featured some ruins but they were too recent to be those of iran kleb decided to investigate nonetheless and he assembled a crack team of experts as good adventure law dictates the first man of action the adventurer this was sir randall fines former british army officer and explorer of legendary status fines had previously served as military advisor to the sultan of oman fighting a soviet-backed insurgency during his years in service he also had learned about iran and had unsuccessfully tried to locate it thanks to his connections in the sultanate fines helped to secure financing and supplies for the expedition then the brains clap enlisted some experts in the fields of archival research and arabian archaeology these were alan jetsey curator of rare books at huntington library in san marino california and professor zarins from southwest missouri state university the first grand reconnaissance of claps team conducted in the summer of 1990 uncovered some promising artifacts along the tracks photographed from space they confirmed that this trail had been a part of the frankincense trade route in the pre-islamic era in november of 1991 a much larger team returned to the area and began excavating at shisa this time clapp and friends claimed victory after weeks of digging under zarin's direction the excavators found the ruins of a large settlement it was octagonal in shape enclosed by high walls with eight identifiable towers each of them was at least 30 feet high with interior rooms and nicely plastered facades a regular array of stone struts was found to stick out from the walls these may have been the anchor points for the tented market stalls where frankincense traders flogged their goods a gate on one of the walls led to the inner sanctum a large enclosed area believed to be the oldest part of the city professors aarons estimated that these remains predated every other known site in southern arabia associated with the frankincense trade he said i would say they go back to at least a thousand bc but the objects found within the ruins were even older zarin's catalogued roman greek and syrian pottery the latter dating back more than four thousand years according to the research team the site would have been one of the last if not the last trading station for the frankincense caravans traveling north from the do-far range and onto mesopotamia finally the archaeologists discovered evidence for cataclysmic event the collapse of an underground limestone cavity beneath the city this disaster had effectively vacated the city and affected its ruin causing its inhabitants to relocate they estimate that the collapse happened sometime around the second or third century ce this catastrophe was followed in the fourth century by a general decline of the frankincense industry when the roman empire converted to christianity the demand for incense to be burned in pagan temples dropped off significantly the once mighty kingdoms of southern arabia who had relied on that single source of income for centuries gradually lost their importance so well there you have it clapham friends had found a once rich and bustling city maybe not as rich and not as mighty as portrayed in legend but one that had disappeared almost overnight and was doomed never to be rebuilt it even had the eight towers which may become lofty pillars with the help of some poetic license head clap fines and zarins found iram or uba the atlantis of the sands [Music] well maybe clap and finds were staunchly convicted that yes they had but some islamic scholars dispute iran's general existence according to interpretations iran may simply be identified with a tribe within the ad people the lofty pillars may refer to large tent poles hinting at a nomadic way of life it could even be nothing more than an indication that the iran tribe or the ad as a whole were tall and powerfully built like pillars other archaeologists and historians such as jordanian fauzi zayadeen suggest that the actual location may have been in wadi rum southern jordan professor zaran himself was not convinced that they had found iran he realized the importance of their findings nonetheless in shedding light on the ancient trade routes in southern arabia after the shissar expedition he set out to find another location mapped by ptolemy a fortified trading center called safar metropolis somewhere on the indian ocean coast of oman in april of 1992 he announced his discovery a new site called ain humraan located at the base of the dhofar or alcara range this appeared indeed to be safari the last stop for pre-islamic traders before setting sail to india in conclusion depending on which interpretation you choose to believe you may reach the conclusion that a city called iran may have never existed after all and if it did exist was it located in southern arabia or somewhere else entirely but i have another question does it really matter the stories about iran mubara and the ammanim emporium may have been just that stories fiction the whole concept of an atlantis of the sands may just be an illusion a mirage borne out of a religious parable interpreted to literally forced upon an imprecise map its importance however is that it inspired artists across the centuries from the poets of arabia to horror riders in new england it prompted courageous and resourceful travelers to explore an area believed to be one of the most lifeless and barren on earth and it ultimately led to the discovery of two ancient towns which helped to write with precision the past of southern arabia the spice and frankincense trade alongside the economy and culture linked to it the atlantis may have succumbed to the sand of the desert but it sailed unscathed through the sands of time so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe please do check out fantastic sponsor curiosity stream 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Channel: Geographics

Views: 748,721

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Id: f9scZM8g3Fw

Length: 22min 56sec (1376 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2020